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JONES
,
DAVID JOHN TAWE
(
1885
-
1949
),
musician
;

b. in
Rhyd-y-fro
,
Pontardawe, Glam.
Educated at
Swansea Grammar School
and
Cardiff University College
, he was
organist at Welsh Presbyterian churches
in
Llanrwst
,
Cardiff
,
Carmarthen
and
Holloway Road
(
London
). He adjudicated and conducted extensively throughout
Wales
and in
England
and was
Professor of Singing
at the
Guildhall School of Music
during the latter part of his life. His compositions include many choral works and songs (for which he won many prizes at the national
eisteddfod
), together with some instrumental compositions. He held strong views concerning the lack of enterprize of
Welsh
choirs and the absence of any signs of progress in
Welsh
choral singing, and longed to hear a
Welsh
choir of the calibre of the
Huddersfield Choir
. The complete list of his compositions is too extensive to be included in this article.

He suffered a great deal from the effects of
World War I
when he was
gassed
and received a
shrapnel wound in his head
. Shortly before his death he completed a five-act opera,
The Enchantress
, based on the biblical theme of ‘
Jezebel
’ — the libretto by
J. DyfnalltOwen
(see below)
and an
English
translation by
‘
Wil Ifan
’ (
WilliamEvans
, see above
). The opera is scored for full orchestra. He d. at his home in
Golders Green
,
London
,
3 May 1949
, aged 64, and was buried in
Rhyd-y-fro
. He was survived by his widow,
Elizabeth
.